Unexpected
by Esmooria
Summary: Not long before her 18th birthday, Kagome finds herself trapped in the past. When she meets a cold taiyoukai who warns her against removing Inuyasha from the sacred tree and then disappears, she doesn't know what to believe. Will their paths cross again?
1. Routine

**A/N:** Okay, so this is my first Fanfic--or, my first fanfic where an Original Character isn't the main character or one that I actually have a planned ending and somewhat of an outline. Also, this is my first time publishing it on a site. That being said, reviews are encouraged and appreciated, and I would love suggestions as well. Hmm...another thing: I suck at titles. So, that explains my really generic title of 'Unexpected' as well as what I'm sure will be very vague or unrelated-seeming titles of chapters I might have.

This is sort of a prologue--it will get more interesting than this, I promise. :] (Or maybe I'm not at liberty to make that promise...who knows? Gah, enough rambling, and onto the story..)

Word count: 1,000 (I might not do this every time, but I got exactly 1,000 words so I was excited about that.)

**Disclaimer:**I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.

………………

**Routine**

It was a beautiful day—absolutely perfect, in Kagome's mind. It was the kind of day where she wanted nothing more than to skip school and have a picnic, without a care in the world. She pulled back the curtains happily as she got ready for school, glancing out constantly into the sun-kissed view before her, not even noticing that she was taking almost twice as long to get ready than usual.

"Kagome, you're going to be late for school!" her mother called somewhat frantically as she finished packing up hers and her brother's lunches, heading to the stairs to see what was taking her so long. Glancing at the clock, Kagome gasped as she ran a brush through her still-messy hair and grabbed her backpack, running down the stairs and practically falling into her mom. She laughed, taking the lunch from her and waving goodbye as she got out the door. And she was surprised yet again to see Hojo waiting for her outside.

"Hojo!" she exclaimed happily, taking his hand almost immediately as they began walking to school. She had been dating him for two years, ever since her freshman year of high school. The way he'd showered her with attention, she really hadn't stood a chance. And he always made her very happy. Of course, she was a junior now, and was busier than she had ever been, and almost felt like Hojo had been taking a backseat to the rest of her life; however, he was very faithful and he stayed by her side. She'd never been happier, and she couldn't imagine how things could get any better. Or at least, that's what she told herself every day—but she was wondering more and more frequently exactly how true that was.

"Good morning, Kagome," came Hojo's reply, not fazed by her unusual tardiness or the fact that they were certainly going to be late to school—especially at the slow pace they were walking. But their walks to and from school seemed to be the only time they actually got together now that Kagome was so busy. And so they walked as slowly as they pleased, talking and laughing the whole way. It was no surprise that Kagome was 15 minutes late to her class, but she was considered an incredibly good student, so although she was reprimanded, she was left unpunished, not to the surprise of her friends.

………………

The rest of her day went as it usually did, but Kagome couldn't help but feel that something big was about to happen. Something terrible, actually—but, she was more surprised than ever that she actually kind of _wanted_ something to happen. Her life was too perfect, too _boring_—and although she couldn't say that she wasn't content with it, she couldn't help but feel something bigger was out there. Something exciting, something new, something _different_. She was uneasy the whole day, and was totally unfocused when she and Hojo walked to her house.

"What's wrong, Kagome? Did you have a bad day?" His mind was already racing with what little gift he could get her depending on what had happened that day.

"Nothing's wrong," Kagome laughed, seeing the calculations running through his mind. "I'm just feeling a little weird, that's all." She held up her hand before he could say anything. "Nothing _physical_, really, either—so don't worry about it!" She was well used to Hojo's frequent gifts by now, and although she appreciated it, she had never cared about material objects quite so much. But there was absolutely no question as to how he felt about her, that was for sure. She reached up on her tip-toes and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow, 'kay? I have a ton to do today."

"As usual," he said, although he was still fairly cheerful about it. He waved goodbye and then left, and Kagome immediately went upstairs and fell onto her bed with a sigh. And despite all the homework she had to do, she didn't move until her mom called her down for dinner.

She was unusually quiet throughout all of dinner, and her mom and grandpa were starting to get a little worried. Souta wasn't—he teased her about it, though, commenting on how nice it was to not have her rambling through the entire meal. Kagome just shrugged it off, rather than bantering back as she usually did, which got her mom even more worried.

"Kagome, would you like to help me with cleaning the well house after dinner?" She was just dying to get Kagome alone to talk with her, and see if anything was the matter.

"Sure, Mom, no problem." She smiled and finished her dinner rather quickly after that. For some reason, as soon as her mom suggested it, she was just _dying_ to go into the well house. What was up with her today, anyway?

………………

"Where do you want this sword?" Kagome coughed as some of the dust of the box swirled around her face. "Grandpa says it's sacred, or something," she mumbled as she glanced over at her mother.

"He thinks everything is sacred. Just put it over there," she replied, slightly frustrated that her earlier attempts to find out what was bothering Kagome had been unsuccessful.

Arching a brow at her mother, Kagome nodded and lifted it off the shelf, stepping carefully over the other antiques they had been going through. She paused right by the well, and turned to her mom and smiled. "I'm sorry I've been so spacey today. But, really, nothing's wrong. Just antsy, is all." Her mother nodded and smiled back, turning her eyes again to the old picture album she had found and flipping through it, quite reminiscent all of a sudden.

And that was when Kagome tripped. She let out a gasp, twisting her ankle when she fell over an old book that she hadn't seen—and fell right into the well, taking the sword with her.


	2. Far From Home

**A/N:** Woo, an update on the story fairly quickly! This probably won't be happening very often, I might warn you...I'm a sophomore in college who has a LOT of homework to do. :o

Anyway, I have a few different perspectives in this story. The first section is, of course, from Kagome's perspective. The second is mainly from her mom's perspective (but really it's from everyone in her family's perspective at one point), and the third is from Sesshomaru's perspective.

If that's too confusing, just let me know through a review and I won't make that a habit. The whole thing is really supposed to be third person limited--but sometimes, it might seem more like third-person omniscient. I really can't decide yet. :] Probably something I should've figured out before I even started writing it, but...oh well!

Word Count: 1,592

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Inuyasha or any of its characters.

………………

**Far From Home**

"Nnngh…" Kagome groaned as she opened her eyes. The hit at the bottom of the well hadn't been nearly as bad as she had expected—as a matter of fact, it had actually felt like she _floated_ to the bottom. It was unexpected, and, though she was grateful for it, she couldn't help but feel a little confused. She turned her face upwards and was yet again surprised when she saw the sunlight beaming down on her.

"What the…" she mumbled, voice trailing off as she struggled to stand. She winced as she put pressure on her ankle—which, upon looking at it, she realized was slightly swollen—and sighed. This was not turning out to be the perfect day she had planned.

"Mom! Can you help me get out of here??" she cried, but there was no answer. Actually, now that she thought about it, everything seemed almost eerily quiet. "Great," she mumbled as she put her hands on the inside walls of the well, carrying the sword still under her arm as she tried to push herself up. After several unsuccessful tries, she managed to pull herself out of the well and tumble out the side.

At that point, she felt like her heart had stopped. She'd known something wasn't right when she saw the sunlight, but she hadn't imagined _this_. Where was the well house? Her family? Her home? Absolutely nothing was familiar—and she was suddenly terrified.

"I'm dreaming. Or I hit my head when I fell in the well. Or…or…I'm in a coma. I can't handle being in a coma! I've got homework to do tonight!" she started saying aloud to herself, well beyond the point of panic. She pushed herself off the ground and picked up the sword, and turned to where the sacred tree had been in her own home. And it was there—but it was not what she expected.

There was a boy pinned to the tree! He appeared to be sleeping, but where the arrow was pinning him, she knew he _had_ to be dead. And that really freaked her out. "I…I've got to get out of here…" she said aloud as she started to back up slowly, and then turned to run, ignoring the throb of her ankle, but she was forced to stop cold as she ran into something—some_one_—and she fell backwards, dropping the sword box again in the process.

"I'm sorry," Kagome mumbled before forcing herself to look up. Her brown eyes widened further than she thought possible when she saw the man standing before her, and she couldn't help but let out another gasp.

What was this man? He was tall, but that wasn't the first thing Kagome noticed about him. He had long, white hair, which was fairly nonexistent in Tokyo, and made him look inhuman even without looking at the rest of him, which was similar to the boy she'd just seen pinned to the tree—but _his _appearance didn't terrify her as this man's did. His attire was something strange as well, not the least of which was the fur pelt wrapped around him, and the armor. But that wasn't even what made Kagome fear him, either. He had markings on his face—they looked like they could've been tattoos, but she got the feeling they weren't. She'd heard of people getting tattoos on their face, but somehow as she looked at the man before her, she knew he was born with them. And she knew he wasn't human.

"Umm…" Kagome began, faltering as she pushed herself up again. His cold, unmoving amber eyes stared at her as his expression remained unchanging. She would've laughed to herself as the expression 'if looks could kill' came to her mind if she would have been fully convinced that this person, whoever he was, _wouldn't_ kill her. And then, he just left, without saying a word.

As the taiyoukai disappeared from sight, Kagome let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She kept herself from looking behind her at the boy on the tree, and she began limping out of the forest, the sword under her arm, not even allowing herself to blink for fear that something might happen to her.

………………

"Kagome!!" Mrs. Higurashi called as she heard her daughter fall down the well, immediately dropping the photo album and picking her way through the maze they had made for themselves on the floor of the well house. Worry overcame her as she peered in the bottom, expecting to find a crumpled and injured Kagome in the bottom. But what she saw was much worse: nothing. She was gone?? How was that possible?

She immediately left the well house and went into the house. She knew that there was a possibility that they would think she was crazy, but she knew what she had seen—or hadn't seen. Kagome wasn't in the well, or anywhere to be found. And she didn't know what to make of it.

"Father," she called, realizing her voice made her sound like she had suddenly become ill. And maybe she had. "I need to talk to you."

He looked up from the dishes, handing the sponge to Souta as he nodded. "Looks like you'll have to take over the washing _and_ drying for a few minutes, Souta." He recognized the tone of his daughter's voice, and he knew she wanted this to be a private conversation.

"Aw, man!" Souta cheerfully complained, but took the sponge anyway and began scrubbing where his grandfather had left off. "Can't Kagome come help?" He looked at his mom and was confused to see the pain-stricken look on her face. "Never mind!" he said almost immediately, and turned to his dishes, wondering what he had said wrong.

Mrs. Higurashi pulled her father into another room and began speaking quietly. "Kagome disappeared. She fell into the well, and when I looked, she was gone!" Her explanation was hurried as she looked at her father with somewhat expectant eyes. "Do you know anything about that?"

Mr. Higurashi fell silent for a few moments, scanning his mind for stories about the well he had found, and trying to decide whether it would be a good thing to share this information with his daughter. After a moment, he decided that any information would help, even if they could do nothing about it. "There are…stories…concerning the well at our shrine. It is said that people would toss the bones of demons into the well, and they would disappear, thus gaining it the title 'The Bone Eater's Well.'" He had slipped into story mode as if the news that his granddaughter had disappeared hadn't really affected him.

"So you mean Kagome might be gone forever?!?!" was Mrs. Higurashi's immediate response, panic flooding over her again.

The news seemed to hit him for the first time as he stared into his daughter's eyes; suddenly both of them were overwhelmed with the sadness of that possibility. Grief overcame him as he gave his response. "I don't know."

………………

Sesshomaru stopped as he heard the undeniable shriek of a girl. He inwardly sighed as he recognized it as the same voice of the foolish girl he had seen not ten minutes ago—the one who seemed to have a strange power coming from her. Normally he would not have cared, but he could smell the stench of the reptilian youkai that he assumed was trying to attack her, not to mention the demonic aura that was surrounding him was completely black. Not that he ever cared for protecting anyone, but he decided that the forest would be better off without this youkai roaming about—not to mention that he never ran from a fight when there was one so near.

It was only moments before he arrived at the scene, but it was long enough for that girl to get pretty heavily injured. She was already unconscious, with a nasty looking stomach wound where the youkai had tried to pierce her all the way through. Luckily for the girl, he hadn't succeeded, but for such a weak human, it had been enough to knock her unconscious.

Sesshomaru smirked; at least she wouldn't be doing that annoying yelling thing anymore.

His claws glowed green as he approached the youkai, slashing him through and killing him almost instantly. It was almost disappointing at how easy his foe had been to defeat; he really couldn't have been that much of a threat at all if he could be killed so easily. Although he was a big enough threat to the girl. His eyes turned towards her unconscious form, studying her stomach wound more closely.

It was strange—it didn't appear like she had been simply pierced, like he originally thought—it appeared that he had been trying to dig something _out_ of her stomach. If he thought about it, that's where the power seemed to be emanating from her; perhaps she had drank a potion or something. Such things were not for him to contemplate—he certainly did not care for objects outside natural strength to give power: they made people all the more weak.

He sighed as he scooped the girl up, careful not to get any blood on his haori, and carried her to the outskirts of the village. He laid her near one of the villager's farms, taking care not to be seen himself, and then made his exit much like he had the first time, without so much as a sound.


End file.
